Shutter Release

Screw-In ND Filters

These are the 2 ND filters I use for long exposures. Sometimes combined with each other and / or my Cokin system filters.

And that’s everything I have and use for stills at the moment.

FILMING:

I’ve been tweaking my setup incrementally as I’ve gone along, over about 12 months. This included quick trips to a local beach where no backpack was used, all day hill walks where emergency gear, rations and spare clothes were required. And right up to full load-outs with overnight wild-camping equipment.

I settled on this kit list of tech items some months ago. It all works really well for me. Being very adaptable and lightweight, it’s easy to grab it all in one pouch to move from bag to bag without leaving anything critical behind. It’s light enough to tote about with minimum effort.

But it also allows huge flexibility for a variety of filming, with multiple angles on setup shots, smooth pan, dolly and crane style shots with zooming. And good audio and lighting.

CAMERAS

DJI Osmo Pocket
I waited for the audio adapter to become available before I opted for this. But the video quality, audio in and portability make it a complete winner for the sort of filming I do in out of the way places. This is my first choice camera for every shot I take.

E-M1 mk2: I’ll sometimes use this for locked-off A-roll, where not using it for stills. Also locked-off B-roll to demonstrate compositions.

2x Firefly Action Cams: I use these only for multi-angle locked-off A-roll set up shots eg. filming photography.

Audio:

I use a combination of clip-on Rode Lavalier microphone and Rode VideoMicro shotgun mic.

If I’m close enough to my filming device, I’ll run audio straight into my Osmo Pocket, or main Olympus camera. If I’m further away from the main camera I’ll record audio to Voice Recorder Pro app on my iPhone (I highly recommend this app) and sync it in the edit.

VRP allows for very high quality recording and it’s really easy to download files using its dedicated built-in wi-fi web server.

I don’t see the point of an expensive Zoom H1 recorder when my phone does the job and is always with me anyway!

DJI Osmo Pocket Camera

I was a fan of a phone gimbal setup, but when it came to replacing one this was a more pricey, but far better option. It’s tiny and weighs nothing. The sound and vision is unparalleled in such a portable device. Add in mechanical stabilisation and it’s a complete game-changer for vlogging – you’d need the audio adapter too, though, which is only available direct from DJI at the time of writing.

Vlogging Tripod

I use this because it weighs next to nothing and clips onto a bag with a carabiner. I use it as a full height tripod for setup shots, and it doubles as a selfie-stick for run and gun A-roll. A bit flimsy, so I go through one about every 9 to 12 months, but at only £15 I happily replace them, as they’re so useful and cheap.

iPhone SD Card Adapter

This gizmo is amazing! Simply put, you slot in a micro SD card of any capacity and using the free App you can shunt files off your iPhone storage, via the lightning plug, onto the SD card to free up space on the phone. And then easily transfer them to a Windows or Mac device using the USB end of the drive.

Day Hike Backpack

This is a really large capacity and comfortable pack and I love everything about it. It doubles as an everyday carry / business-trips-to-London pack too. Even though I travel as light as possible as far as tech kit is concerned, when I’m out and about in the mountains I need all manner of emergency gear, clothes, rations etc! I have all my tech gear in modular pouches so just by grabbing the pouch and dropping it in I know I have everything I’ll need for photography and film-making. I also have a full 60 litre trekking pack for wild-camping trips.

Rode Lav Mic

Works brilliantly with my main Olympus camera and iPhone, and has great sound. Even though the lead isn’t very long, it’s fine for most piece-to-camera situations, and is very lightweight. So doesn’t interfere with the gimbal action when used with a stabilised iPhone. If I’m too far away from the video device I simply plug it into my iPhone and record high quality audio with Voice Recorder Pro.

Shotgun Mic

A nice quality shotgun mic which works well in calm conditions. But as I’m often out in very windy locations I don’t use it all that much. I do find the Rode Lav mic does a much better job of handling wind noise!

Drone

I don’t tend to use this for epic high level stuff these days – once the novelty wore off!! But I do like to set up B-roll follow-shots or low-level dolly-style and crane shots which are hard to get smooth with a hand-held.

Extra Cameras (x2)

You can get 2 of these for less than one GoPro! They have very sharp 4K without that horrid wide-angle distortion. They are digitally stabilised, but I only use them for locked-off tripod A-roll shots. The dynamic range is poor, but if you’re careful you can get pretty good footage.

Lighting Block

I often use the lighting for a bit of fill even in daylight if it’s lowish lighting conditions as really helps with camera if dynamic range is limited such as in action cams. 2 AA batteries seem to last ages as LEDs don’t pull much current.

Tech Pouches

These are handy to store little bits of kit which would either go missing or end up in the wring bag when I need them. By keeping them in these pouches I can just shunt it from bag to bag and no worries about not having the right bit of cable when the time comes!

Software

Filmic Pro is a top-class video app for filming in the highest bit-rate 4K quality, with flat and log colour profiles, and full manual control over iPhone cameras.

When paired with the fully integrated Smooth 4, the gimbal controls the entire filming process without the need to touch the phone screen at all – I didn’t film without it when I used to use an iPhone & gimbal!